Tracking device



July 10, 1928; 1,676,475

R. BU KOW TRACKING DEVICE l 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed avwenboz RE/IVHOLDBU/FOM $391 61%0014013 July 10, 192&

R. BUKOW TRACKING DEVICE Filed April 9. 1926 2 Sheets$heet 2 fiE/NHoLQa/mom W v reamed Juiy 1c, 1928.

UNITED STATES wane PATET FFICE.

REINI-IOLID BUKOW, LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO I-IARDMAN, PECK & 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TRACKING DEVICE.

' Application filed Ap ril 8/1926. Serial No. 100,874.

In a prior Patent No. 1,454,621 granted to me May 8. 1923, I have disclosed an automatic tracking mechanism for player pianos and similar instruments by whichthe ment on mechanism of the same general character as that patent The present invention will be understood from the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in Whic l 1--' Fig. l is a box and showing certain related parts in cross-section e Fig. 2 is a View approximately on line 22 of Fig. 1; i

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the parts in the position they assume when the music sheet is being rewound;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating the position of certain parts shownin Fig. 1 when the music sheet is beingrewoun d.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 10 represents the music box; as a whole-which comprises left and right cheek blocks 12 and 14, respectively, top and bottom boards 16 and 18, respectively. and aback board '20.

disclosed in said prior A fixed tracker bar 22is secured between the.

cheek blocks andis provided with the usual in the usual form of player action not shown, The music spool 24 issupported at the left in the bearing 26 having a spring pressed right.

eoact with a driving portion 30 carried on the end of the drive shaft 32. r The opposite end of the shaft 32 engages the free end 34 of a lever 36-which is pivoted at 38 to asuitable bracket carriedby a frame member 40. The; lever 36 is connected at 43 by means of an adjustable link 42 to the movable leaf 44 of a pneumatic 46. This pneumatic when col-.

lapsed tends to press the shaft32 toward the left against the tension of the spring plunger 28. The pneumatic is connected througha bleed port 48 with a tube 50 leading to a front elevation of the music ports 23 which lead to suitable pneumatics.

chamber 52 in ablock secured above the wind chest 54 which in turn communicates by means of a pipe 56 with the main suction bellows not shown. The movable leaf of the pneumatic 46 carries a stop pin '58 which is adapted to coact with the curved end 60 of a stop link 62 which is pivotally secured at 64 with a movableleaf 66 of a pneumatic 68 carried by the same fixed block 70 which supports the pneumatic 46. This block is. supported by brackets 72 and 73 suitably. Secured to the cheek block 12.

A spring 74 is secured at one end by a screw 76 to the block 70; and at its opposite end to the same screw 64 whichv forms the pivot for the link 62. The spring 74 is of such material and size that the pressure it exerts is exactly equal to the pressure exerted. by the spring plunger-28. Such being the case, wherethere is no suction oneitherpneumatic 46 or 66,these' members will assume the position illustrated in Fig. 4. In

this position it is noted that. the spring 74 has moved the pneumatic 66 to expanded position so as to bring the end 60 of the stop link into engagement with the stop pin 58 carried by the pneumaticfl46. As thus arranged it will be apparent that the tendencyof the spring plunger 28 to push the music spool 24 to the right is exactly counterbalanced. or offset by the tendency of the spring 74, acting through link 62, pin 58.

pneumatic 46, link 42 and lever 36 to push the music spool to the left. It is thus seen that when there is no suction on either pneumatic 46 or-66, the music spool will be properly centralized. is connected by a pipe 7 8 with thechamber 52 above referred to which communicates. with the wind chest54. s

The tracking of the music sheet is automatically controlled by means of fingers 80 and 82. Guide finger." 80: is pii otally supported. ina bearing member 84 which meniber is in turn pivoted at 86. Similarly the guide finger 82 is pivotally supported in a bearing member 88 which is pivoted at 90.

The forwardends of the fingers 82 and 80 are adapted to normally engage the edgesof the sheet S. The rear ends of these fingersare in effect valves which control'the admis sion of air to pipes 92 and 94, respectively.

The pipe 92 leads to the pneumatic 46.

The. pneumatic 66.

hen the sheet S tracks too far to the left there is an admission of air through pipe 92 to the pneumatic 46, causing a movement which through link 42 tends to rock lever 36 so that the lower end 84 thereof moves to the right, therebypermitting the spring plunger 28 to force the music spool toward the right to its true running position. lifeans are also provided for centralizing the fingers and -The centralizing move-- ments are effected by means of another pneumatic indicated at 96. A spring 98 secured to the movable leaf 100 of this pneumatic engages the upturned end 102 of a pin 104, projecting laterally from the cheek block 12. The upturned end'102 also serves to limit the n'iovement to the left of the pneumatic. The pneumatic is adapted to move in response to variations in the amount of air admitted through the pipe 94 under control of the tracker finger 82. This pneumatic 9G is connected with the source of suction by means of pipe 106 which branches from the pipe 50 above'referi' ed to leading to cham-' ber 52.

The hearing members 84 and 88 are arranged to partake of equal movements in response to movement of the leaf of the pneumatic 96. lVhen theleaf 100 of pneumatic 96 moves to the left, it pulls with it a short link 108 which is loosely mounted in a bushing in the cheek block 12 and connected at 110 to an ear formed on the free end of the bearing member 84. The movement of leaf 100is transmitted to the other bearing member 88 by means of a rod 112, the end of which engages a levcr114 pivoted at 116 to a suitable bracket'carried by the cheek block 14. The upper end'of the lever 114 connects by means of a. suitable link 118 to an ear 120 formed on the end of the bearing men'r ber 88. As thus arranged, the bearing members 84 and 88 may thus be simultaneously moved toward or from the center of the tracker bar inresponse to a collapsing and expanding movement of .the pneumatic 96.

'As soon as the operator commences to pump, suction is transmitted to the pneumatics 48, (i8 and 96. The bearing members 84 and 88 will be drawn equally inward toward the center of the tracker bar. At the same time, the sheet S will be shifted to the left." These two movements will continue until the sheet is properly centralized between the fingers which bear slightly against the opposite edges thereof as indicated in Fig. 2. This is a regular running position in which the amount of air permitted to enter the pipes 92 and 94 is just sufficient to supply air to the pneumatics 46 and 96 at the same rate at which it is sucked out of these pneumatics. If the sheet is deflected to the left the finger 80 will open its port wide and admit air at a rapid rate to the pipe 92. The linger 82 will close the end of .will shift the sheet to the left.

pipe 94 and there will result a shifting of the sheet to the right and an inward pressure on the two controlling devices until the parts again assume normal running posi tion.

If on the other hand the sheet shifts to the right, the port controlled by the finger 80 will be closed. This will cause a suction in the pneumatic 46 which through lever 36 The port controlled'by the finger 82 will have been opened wide so as to cause a separation of the bearing members 84 and 88, but the movement of finger 82 out of contact with the edge of the sheet will cause the closing of its port, and the same effect will be caused by the movement of the sheet to the left away from the finger 82. There will, therefore, be an inward pressure upon the two controlling devices and the sheet will come to the central position with the two fingers bearing gently on its opposite edges. The above described resetting or adjusting operations, it is understood, commence to take place as soon as there is any departure from the ideal running position so that at no time will there be any substantial deviation from this ideal trackin position. The normal operation of my tracking device as just described is quite similar to that of the device covered in my previous patent above referred to. In my former patent, however, I' have not disclosed means for moving the tracker guide fingers out of the way when rewinding the sheet. In my present arrangement the fingers 80 and 82 are moved a substantial. distance away from the edge oflhe sheet when rewinding so thatthore is no rubbing of the guide fingers against the edges during the high speed rerolling operation. During rewinding the music spool 24 is held centralized by means of the spring 74 and floating stop 62 carried by the pneumatic 66. And during the rewinding movement, the spring 98 on the pneumatic 96 holds the latter in the position shown in Fi 4 so that the hear-- ing members 84 and 88 are pulled to their extreme outward position. as shown in Fig. 3. Thus the ends of the guide fingers 80 and 82 are pulled outward to a non-operative position, the distance between the ends of the fingers in this position being much greater than the width of the widest sheet used. In order to bring about this desirable retraction of the guiding. fingers to nonoperative position during the rewinding of the music sheet, it is necessary to coordinate the tracking mechanism with the rewinding mechanism. This is accomplished in the embodiment illustrated in the manner now to be described. In normal playing position, the pneumatic motor 122 constantly drives the shaft 124 which carries on the end thereof a sprocket which. transmits motion through a suitable chain 126 to a ack shaft 128 having Hill when ion 136 which in'playing position is in driv-. 111g engagement with a gear 138 secured toa shaft 110 of the take-up roll14'2 which winds up the sheet as the music is played. "When the music sheet is to be rewound, the

operator shifts the rewinding lever 14:4 to' the left. This rocks a shaft 146 and causes an arm 148 thereon to push a link 156 connected to the free end of an arm 158 carried on the lower end of the vertical shaft 160 thus turning the shaft in the direction of the arrow so as to pull to the right a rod 162. This rod 162 is connected to a lever 166 pivoted at 168. This lever is provided with a pin 170 adapted to engage an annular groove formed inthe hub of the pinion 136 and thus shift said pinion out of engagement withthe gear 138 and at the same time to bring the clutch pin 172 into the path of a similar pin 174 on the sprocket 180 so as to establish a driving connection between the shaft 128 and the shaft 32 for the purpose of rewinding the music sheet on the spool 24;. At the same time that the rewinding lever last is shifted to the left, an arm 17 6 secured to the shaft 1&6 presses downwardly on a spring valve member 178. This permits air to enter through the port 180 and by way of pipe 182 to a chamber 184 below a pouch 186 and thus break the vacuum which is normally maintained in said chamber through a bleed port 188 which communicates with the chamber hereinabove referred to. 'When the pouch 186 moves upward in response to the admis sion of atmospheric air to the chamber 1841, a *alve member 190 closes the port 192 leading to the chamber 52 and thereby cuts off suction from the chamber F-t to the pneumatics 46, 66, and 96. lVith the suction thus cut oil during the rewinding operation, it is apparent that these three pneun'iatics will assume the position illustrated in Fig. 4 and thereby automatically maintain the music spool 24- in a substantially centralized position during rewinding and at the sametime hold the tracking control fingers 80 and 82 a substantial distance away from the edges of the music sheet as shown in Fig. 3, I also provide a silence button 19% which depressed permits the music to continue to wind up on the roller 142 but without producing musical sound. During such an operation it is desirable to also retract the tracking devices and this will be accomplished because of the fact that depressing the selector button 194 will open valve 196 and admit atmospheric air through port 198 and pipe 200 to the chamber 18& and thereby close off communication between the chamber 54- and the pipe 202 which leads to the, usual player action not shown (consisting of many pneumatics each individually controlled by ports in the tracker bar).

Though I have described quite specifically, the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated, it not to be construed that I am limited-thereto since various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from 'the invention as defined in the appended claims.

W hat I claim is 1. The combination with a tracking control mechanism, a take-up roll and rewinding mechanism, of a spool arranged to be coupled with the latter, means for rendering the tracking control mechanism nonoperative during the operation of said rewinding mechanism, and means for automatically shifting said spool relatively to said takeup roll to centralize said spool upon the operation of said rewinding mechanism.

2. The combination with a tracking control mechanism and rewinding mechanism, of a music spool, supports for said spool, a pair of oppositely arranged pneumatics, connections whereby one pneumatic shifts the music spool in one direction, means for yieldingly shifting the spool in the opposite direction, and meansconnected to the other pneumatic limiting the movement of said spool in the said opposite direction so that the spool is centralized during the rewinding of the music sheet.

3. The combination with a tracking control mechanism, and rewinding mechanism, a spool for the music sheet, a manually actuated member for establishing a driving connection between the rewinding mechanism and said spool, a spring pressed member tending to move said spool in one direction, a pneumatic and means actuated thereby tending to move said spool in the opposite direction, a second pneumatic, a spring tending to expand the latter, a connection between the two pneumatics adapted to limit the movement of the first named pneumatic, suction connections leading to ,both pneumatics and means for cutting off the suction to both said pneumatics upon the movement of said manually actuated member.

41-. The combination with a tracking control mechanism including a pair of lingers engaging the opposite edges of the music sheet, a spool, mechanism for rewinding the sheeet on said spool, a member controlling the operation of said rewinding mechanism, a pneumatic controlling the position of said fingers, and means actuated upon the movement of said member for cutting oif the suction to said pneumatic.

5. In a musical instrument of the char acter described, a take-up roll mounted for rotation but held against longitudinal movement, a music sheet spool, means for supporting said music sheet spool, driving mechal a e nism operatively connecting the takcup roll and the music spool, a spring tending to force the music spool longitudinally in one direction, mechanism including a pneumatic arranged to move said spool in the opposite direction a second pneumatic carrying a member adapted to limit the movement of my name.

the first named pneumatic, a spring tending to distend said. second pneumatic, the latter spring being of substantially the same 10 strength as the first named spring.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed REINHOLD BUKOW. 

